An automatic system for synthesizing (18F)fluorodopa (and potentially other radiopharmaceuticals) is being developed. It is expected that this system will reduce operator exposure to ionizing radiation, improve product yields, and shorten production cycles. The automatic system is an improvement of an existing manual system that runs in a radioactive hot cell associated with the NIH cyclotron. The starting point of the reaction is (18F)F2 produced by the cyclotron. Steps include column absorbtions and elutions, vacuum evaporation and HPLC. The new system will be able to run unattended under computer control after initial loading of reagent reservoirs.